NORRISTOWN — An appreciation of home values is just one potential benefit to the Markley Street Improvement Project, according to the the Montgomery County Planning Commission, whch reviewed the plan Wednesday morning.

Planning commission Assistant Director Leo Bagley said that the project would launch this spring and be divided into two phases the first starting on Markley Street (Route 202 South) from Elm Street to Johnson Highway. It is slated to end in fall 2016 and cost an estimated $20.8 million, with 80 percent of the funding coming from the federal government and 20 percent from the state.

These changes will result in one-lane traffic in each direction, with a center lane for left turns and recessed parking bays in residential areas. The plan includes realigning Coolidge Boulevard to line up with Brown Street. A small, off-street parking lot is slated for the southwest corner of Harding Boulevard and Markley Street. This is designed to compensate for the loss of on-street parking caused by the new parking bays.

The second phase includes repairs on Markley Street from Main Street to Elm Street, with construction beginning in the spring 2015. Costs of the second phase have yet to be determined, but estimates range between $10 million and $15 million.

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Because these targeted areas fall within three different historic districts West Norristown Historic District, the Central Norristown Historic District and the Markley Street Historic District all construction will be keeping with the nature and setting of each historic district. This will include plans for pedestrian-scale lighting, more prominently identified crosswalks and a consolidation of utilities to one side of the street.

“If you go out there now, at nighttime, you’ll see the wheels of cars are up on the curb or on the sidewalk because they are trying to get off the road,” said Bagley. “When people get out, they turn their mirrors in because mirrors get clipped out here all the time. We’ll be putting in all new sidewalks, new pedestrian crossings, new lighting, new landscaping, and this is all through years of working with the community out here. Markley is also a very dark street. We want to make it more pedestrian friendly.”

The four-year timeline for construction will result in the roads looking much different, said Bagley. Traffic detours will be put in place this summer, when construction begins on the road itself.

“Also, as part of the project under the first contract, the Main Street bridge (over Stony Creek), right by SEPTA’s Main Street station, will be reconstructed,” he said. “The barrel of the old arches needs to be completely redone, the parapets, the stonework all has to be redone, so there will be lane restrictions as we go to one lane in each direction. It will be a little bit messy for a while on Main Street, but that’s part of it. No lanes will be closed entirely.”

One of the planning commission’s biggest areas of concern is where Markley Street meets Johnson Highway.

“There’s a big bottleneck there right now,” Bagley said.

Planning commission members came to a general consensus that through revitalizing the entire streetscape, the value of homes along Markley Street would likely increase.

An open house on the Markley Street Improvement Project will take place on Jan. 24, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Eisenhower Science and Technology Leadership Academy, 1601 Markley St. In this forum, PennDOT officials and project team members will take questions and listen to concerns from residents.